Anti-abortion bills defeated in House committee

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Legislation to increase requirements before women undergo abortions in Kentucky was defeated in House committee Thursday as proponents and critics clashed over reproductive issues.

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted down three bills that supporters said would give women a better understanding of the procedure and promote “informed consent” before they decide whether to terminate a pregnancy.

Senate Bill 3 would have required women to receive a face-to-face medical consultation 24 hours in advance, while House Bill 575 and Senate Bill 8 would have mandated an ultrasound before an abortion.

“I don’t think anyone has a medical procedure today without informed consent,” said House Majority Whip Tommy Thompson, D-Owensboro, and supporter of HB 575. “In the end, it does not only protect the woman’s privacy, but it leaves the final choice to the woman.”

But critics charged that the legislation was aimed at restricting a constitutionally protected procedure and cited concerns about interfering with medical decisions between a woman and her doctor.

“These bills are really about trying to make it more difficult, more onerous on women to get an abortion,” Derek Selznick, director of the Reproductive Freedom Project for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said afterward. “Really they come from a place of coercion and not consent.”

Similar measures have died in the Democratic-led House for years even though abortion opponents say the legislation would pass if it ever received a floor vote. HB 575 had 62 co-sponsors, including lawmakers from both parties.

Sen. Sara Beth Gregory, R-Monticello, sponsor of SB 3, called Thursday’s vote a “sham” and said the committee was providing political cover for other Democrats in the House who claim to be anti-abortion while dodging votes on the issue.

“It’s just a matter of this committee doing what it does every year — holding a staged meeting, rushing through testimony ... and then having a mockery of a vote,” she said.

Committee Chairman Tom Burch, D-Louisville, agrees that such measures would have enough support to move on the House floor. But he said the bottom line is there weren’t enough votes to advance the measures out of committee, and he charged that Republicans are trying to confuse the public about the process.

For more than an hour lawmakers and advocates backing the legislation pleaded with the panel to pass the bill, calling them “common sense” steps and decrying the thousands of abortions that occur in Kentucky every year.

Some brought photos of fetuses to bolster their arguments that the bills were about rights for the unborn, adding that ultrasounds would help women better understand health risks and how development occurs in the womb.

But Selznick warned lawmakers that the state could spend millions in legal costs defending the laws in court. He said after the meeting that legislators were attempting to “chip away” at abortion rights and that the fight is “not going away.”

Reporter Mike Wynn can be reached at (502) 875-5136. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeWynn_CJ.